Religion
Chronism All about the beat of time innate in all things. Rocks and rivers have cycles just as seasons and animals and men, and in time, even the air we breathe will grow old and die. Connecting or seeing the great and small cycles is an important part of daily life. Each of these is overseen, managed, or somehow controlled by a deity, whose intricate interpersonal relationships are echoed in nature and are subject to gossip similar to celebrity gossip. There is a great deal of variation in how this religion is taught and practiced, it is a very personal and individual belief system. Primism Some 4400 years ago, the First Wizard appeared. He carried the Golden Book, in which the written language we use today was first seen. In it were guidelines for how to treat fellow man ( the Golden Rule ), how to improve harvests, and prophesies regarding coming disasters, the coming age of wickedness, and a great Redeemer who would repair the rifts that had grown between men. The First Wizard travelled around Erwt in what's called his Pilgrimage of Reason. Primists believe that the age of Wizard-Kings was peanuts compared to what's to come, and that the true Redeemer will reveal himself in time. Besides, the true Redeemer will take his people to the Paradise that awaits all hard-working people after death and that obviously hasn't happened yet. Primus isn't God, just His messenger. God is a power beyond all knowing, the abstract force behind the pantheon of Chronism, which is rejected as being superstitious and base. Redeemerism 440 years ago, a powerful Wizard appeared: Moshiach Shaddai. The true Son of God, he vanquished the wicked and brought together the righteous, exactly according to prophecy. You can only reach Paradise if you worship Him, obviously. Redeemerism is the most militant religion, with a powerful Church that organises its members to actively convert non believers, raise funds, and acquire political and military power. Some countries have made membership compulsory. The Church teaches democracy and socialism and is carefully creating a middle class without radically disrupting the feudal social order. Some forces within the Church advocate a more radical approach, more in line with Moshiach Shaddai's methods, and consider themselves purists, whereas the more moderate or conservative groups in the Church consider them radicals and fundamentalists. Wizardism There is a cult of the Wizard. Cultists believe that every wizard is divine, that magic is divine, and that all men should be completely subservient to wizards in order to better serve God and hasten the coming (unspecified) calamity that ends life on Erwt and ushers in new life in Paradise. They long to go back to a system of Wizard-Kings, and are often found aiding evil or corrupt wizards. This belief is considered a cult because there is no Landscape or Country where it is the majority or plurality belief, and most people hide their belief, professing belief in the dominant religion in the area except to a trusted few like minded individuals. The great exception here is Isolet, where a form of Wizardism is combined with ancestor worship, and the most ancient Wizard-Kings are revered as deities. However, influences from eastern kingdoms (Ennobel, Weald, etc.) are making inroads even here. Category:History